Bears' Nagy singing some new tunes entering Year 3

INDIANAPOLIS - Day 1 at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine may have also been Day 1 of the third year in the marriage between head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace, but it still felt like Nagy got us started with something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

The blue may be obvious as Nagy refused to sing the blues over his club's step back in the 2019 season and proclaimed more confidence than ever that his Bears are still pointing in the right direction.

Something old was both Nagy and Ryan Pace making it as clear as ever that "Mitch is our quarterback" and Nagy quickly disposing of any notion that he might not be calling his own plays again this season.

Borrowed is a revamped staff on offense with new coaches John DeFilippo arriving from Jacksonville and veterans Bill Lazor, Juan Castillo and Clancy Barone all returning from a year away from the league.

But the new Nagy may have been the most visible as he insisted that while much may appear to be staying the same, the more much is likely to change.

Nagy started with play calling.

"Yeah, I'll be calling the plays" Nagy said, but he also indicated he could be a lot more open minded on the subject.

"I learned a lot last year in so many different ways, on and off the field, as a head coach.

"I learned a lot as a playcaller, with players how they work, with scheme, with coaches.

"I'm at a point right now after two years in this role where I'm just so fired up and excited. I feel rejuvenated and I'm refreshed in a lot of different ways, and really just taking on a lot of thoughts."

One of Nagy's thoughts appears to be that Mitch Trubisky, while still his guy, may be getting a dose of some tough love.

"With Flip (DeFilippo), just the way he teaches.

"I think that sometimes with all different positions - I'm not just saying the quarterback - but with all different positions, sometimes you can say we're going to take the gloves off and we're going to get at it now.

"And I think that Flip, in his DNA, has that, and you'll see that and you'll take notice of that."

Nagy also acknowledged he may need to do a better job creating an identity for his team, and without prompting he suggested it will have to start on the ground.

"I think that the word identity, you hit it right on the head. As we go through this offseason here, we need to figure out offensively what is our identity.

"I think more specifically, too, in the run game, we struggled there.

"And then last year you heard me say, sometimes it takes five or six weeks. I feel like personally that's always the case, but there's a sense of urgency for us going into this year. It needs to happen sooner."

Then, things got really interesting. Nagy, the eternal optimist who I don't think I've heard utter a single criticism of one of his players in two years with the possible exception of a failed veteran place-kicker, had this to say when asked if he really wanted legitimate competition for Trubisky at quarterback.

"Yeah, I want everybody to feel that way. If you don't, you feel content and you play content you don't have that chip.

"I think everybody on our team, and I had a lot of different individual talks with players and I'm not going to get into who they are or where they are at, but there are some guys - and they know who they are - that can play with a chip on their shoulder.

"And that's the part to me that going into this year, I want to see if they have that chip."

So just who is Nagy talking about?

A year ago today, Nagy was still just beginning an extended honeymoon thanks to the celebration of the Bears 100th season and the stunning surprise of his 12-5, NFL Coach of the Year rookie campaign.

At the combine Tuesday, he sounded like a guy who clearly understands the honeymoon is over.